The Guardians

Hortense Sandrail (Nathalie Baye) runs the Paridier farm in rural France while her husband and sons are away fighting in World War I, and she hires a young woman, Francine (Iris Bry), to help her keep the land worked. The women carry the seasons on their own, until the arrival of American troops complicates life on the farm. Xavier Beauvois follows the work through the changing seasons with the patience of someone who values the labor as much as the plot.